The Case of Barack Obama

I can still recall years ago when I tuned in to CNN and came across a riveting speech of a young senator from Chicago declaring his intention to run for President of the United States. After that, I followed him ever since. This African-American lanky dude with a Harvard Law degree is now the 44^th President of the United States.

This morning, I managed to wake up early to watch Bill Clinton’s big speech before the Democratic National Convention. It is all over the news. Nevertheless, I asked myself, a Filipino, why I am so glued to the politics of the left in the United States?

I admit that Obama’s early life and his road to the Presidency is sort of a living source of motivation (so not his presidency itself. haha! ). Beneath this I guess is my fascination of the evolution of his person. A child with a multi-cultural/racial background –an idealist community organizer turned civil rights Harvard lawyer – junior senator who happens to be African American to the leader of the free world – making history in the process.

I guess I sometimes wallow in envy over their processes in choosing leaders and ideological discourses as compared to ours and getting glued to it sort-of-like creates an alternative political reality for me. I understand that their democracy is much more mature than ours but I am hopeful we have the makings of developing real parties Filipino-style.  Put aside the personality-based traditional parties that we have grown familiar with and let us focus on some and I mean some promising party lists that seriously strive to live as a political party – not personality-based but platform-based. These groups might lead the way to a more mature political discourse in the years ahead. For now, studying those older democracies is one way of understanding our own.

Now going back to Barack, his choice of career I believe is enlightening for all those students of law out there who still try to fathom the social relevance of their studies. He entered Harvard Law, as his interviews suggest, because he understands the power that comes from the knowledge of the law in challenging and reforming unjust structures as nurtured by his experience in the streets as a community organizer. Winning the presidency I guess is just a consequence of such immersed life for public service. 

This story line is a gold mine for me. This is the kind of dream that I strive to live – the dream that at the end of a long day, I can still see myself making sense of what I do because of my belief that this will bear fruits which is something greater than my own self and my own future.